- Adam Dell, a Goldman Sachs partner and head of digital product for its consumer business, has stepped down from his role, Insider has learned.
- Dell founded Clarity Money, the personal financial app, in 2016 and sold it to Goldman two years later in a deal that placed the app near the center of the burgeoning Marcus digital bank.
- Dells departure was announced in a memo viewed by Insider sent in January, just weeks before Goldman shuttered Clarity Money, offering Marcus Insights instead.
- Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.
A top executive within Goldman Sachs’ growing consumer business that led Marcus, the firm’s retail banking offering, has stepped down from his role, Insider has learned.
Adam Dell, a Goldman Sachs partner and head of digital product for the consumer business, has retired from the firm’s partnership, according to a memo sent January 19th viewed by Insider. Dell will continue to serve as an advisory director.
“I’m coming up on three years at the firm and it feels like the right time to look to the next chapter,” Dell told Insider. “I appreciate how supportive Goldman has been as I consider what’s next. I will say that I still see a lot of opportunities to build new things in financial services.”
Dell joined Goldman in 2018, following the firm’s acquisition of Clarity Money, the personal financial management app he founded in 2016. Under Dell’s leadership, the Clarity Money team got folded into the Marcus digital bank.
Marcus has been expanding beyond savings accounts and loans, building checking accounts and new personal financial management products.
Two weeks after Dell’s departure was announced, Marcus told customers it would shut down Clarity in March, offering Marcus Insights, launched last October, as an alternative financial education tool for customers. Insights gleaned from Clarity users served as inspiration for Marcus Insights, Dell said in a note to customers.
Dell had previously hinted at Marcus’ ambitions to build an AI-driven personal financial management offering, Insider had reported.
When Goldman purchased Clarity Money there was some thought that the app would serve as the foundation for the firm’s digital bank of the future. At some point that strategy changed and Goldman opted instead to built a separate app for Marcus. The bank began offering it more than a year ago with little fanfare.
Now Clarity Money is shutting down and Dell is leaving the partnership. Several of his Clarity Money colleagues have already left.
Dell will remain an advisory director, an honorific typically given to departing partners who aren’t immediately going to work for another rival firm.
“I’m pleased with the contribution the Clarity Money team has made to the Marcus vision,” Dell said. “The firm is well positioned to deliver on its promise to build the digital bank of the future.”
Dell’s departure comes as Goldman Sachs’ consumer and wealth division is in the midst of a massive transformation led by coheads Stephanie Cohen and Tucker York.
On the same day Goldman announced Dell’s departure, York and Cohen named six new product leaders in a memo to employees. Sonali Divilek, who spent more than a decade at Amex and joined the firm in 2018, was named head of product for consumer products, including Marcus.
Goldman also established a strategy team within CWM led by Jemma Wolfe and Stephan Lambert. The team is focused on consumer and wealth-specific strategy and acquisitions.
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